“Coach Hixon, for me, was a father figure,” said Karlos Valentin, a senior heavyweight on the team. ”We were pretty much with him six days a week – three-to-four-to-five hours. His loss was just terrible. I feel like I just lost an uncle.

“Coach Hixon was just a hard-working guy. He’ll make you sweat. He’ll make you bleed, but he’s always with you, [whether] you win or you lose.”

Several wrestlers talked about he impact he has on their lives and his character.

“He was such a sweet guy,” senior wrestler Ray Corniel said. “He was known by all the athletic directors and coaches from every team. He would bring us food for all our tournaments and take care of us like we were his own children and just watch over us, let us learn about life lessons.

“He was always hard on us because he treated us like we were his own kids.”

Susan Stocker / Sun Sentinel

File photo of Chris Hixon.

File photo of Chris Hixon.

(Susan Stocker / Sun Sentinel)

Hixon was previously South Broward’s athletic director before taking over at Douglas. In 2007, his stint with the Bulldogs was put on hold as he had been ordered for deployment to Iraq as a U.S. Naval Reservist.

Fellow athletic directors across Broward County had many strong feelings about Hixon and his death.

“As a younger athletic director, he always made himself available to answer my questions and help,” Cypress Bay athletic director Scott Selvidge said. “He was well respected among his peers and always willing to go the extra mile. It is just devastating.”

Hixon’s father was a wrestling coach at Boyd Anderson and Hixon served as an athletic director at Blanche Ely before going to South Broward.

According to Hixon’s Facebook page, he studied at Broward College, lives in Hollywood and is from Easton, Penn.